E46 (1999 - 2006) The fourth generation 3 Series (E46 chassis) was introduced in 1999 and set the standard for engineering and performance during it's years of production including being named to Car & Driver's 10 best list every one of those years! ! -- View the E46 Wiki

I did something stupid. I made it so I do not have to smog the car anymore but in order to do that I needed to so one last smog test. Well because of a minor oversight on my part, I was thrown into the idle and 2500 idle test group. In years past, I was able to pass the smog text because of yee old friend pictured below. The test was the rolling 20mph and 30mph tests. I passed with race software, 100 cell race cats and all the other intake / engine mods. All you need it the blue and orange can to make any car pass the sniffer =)

In order to pass smog now I had to make a custom mid-section with new cats. While being rather annoying in the fact I had to do it, it needed to be done so I could register the car. Now I have it if I ever need it again.

I had an O2 go out just before I had a test section made. This was just another hurtle to overcome before I could start all the major upgrades on the car. I have had to drive the car around with a test section in that is bouncing around a little under the car. It is freaking me out a bit that it is going to break something as there none of the brackets are installed. Car hates having to work through 100 cell race cats and two high efficiency cats.

In order to fit the Recaro seats I had custom seat brackets made so the seats sat low enough. The reason I need them low is I am 6'5 but I also have the Recaro sliders to adjust seat position. I installed these so the wife and other could drive the car. The goal of choosing Recaros was to drop weight and sit lower so I could wear a race helmet and not have to bend my neck. Sadly I only gained a little height drop in doing these seats but it is still a tad more than the power seats.

Next task was to get the car smogged so I could get it registered. I was able to pass with flying colors after doing all the work to make it pass for sure.

Immediately after I passed the smog test I drove straight over to the fabrication shop to have the rear sub frame done as well as have the differential upgraded to 3.91 gears. A note on the Subframe is my car had started to show signs of spider cracks on both sides. The frame had not "completely cracked" but if I had not done the reinforce kit it would have eventually done so.

From what I have found the reason the frames are cracking is fatigue failures. Same issue with aircraft hulls and the pressure changes. The metal eventually begins to fracture with the constant pressurization and un-pressurization.

The fatigue part on a E46 m3 is the loading and unloading going around turns. This constant flexing causes the area to fail. Bad job by BMW not to beef this up as this is a performance car. Stiffer suspension only acerbates the issue faster. As the car has 59000 hard miles on it from back roads driving and being on CA roads I guess I am not surprised to know I would potently have the issue.

Last of the changes at this point in time was the 3.91 gears installed. These were an immediate change I could feel when driving the car home after all the work was done. I took an image of the old 3.61 stock gears for history sake.

By December 2012, the day has finally come to take the car to the shop and install all the remaining parts. This was a good day as I was getting tired of all the parts taking up space in my office. Before I loaded all the parts into the car, I went through and took images of each item so I had a record of what was being installed.

As the E46 M3 CSL is such a popular car, most BMW enthusiasts have seen the following parts images. As most of these parts would never been seen individually again I wanted to document them and take images of different angles I had never seen. My hope is by sharing these that fellow enthusiasts see things they have never seen before. An example in my case was the flares on the CSL Center console, which in images I had never notices, as the angles never caught the subtleness of the flare.

I did want to share one image that proves the fiancée / soon to be wife at this point is allowed to drive the M3. Granted she does not like that much because it has the SMG system. She preferred to drive the 1M as it is a proper manual car. Images was taken and a social event in August at a parking garage in Down town Sacramento.

It is not December 2012 and I loaded all the parts into the M3 and the fiancé's Subaru. This is the last image of the car in its current configuration all be as it is transformed into a US Spec CSL car.

With the new season of Top Gear on now, I can share my images from my visit there. While on honeymoon, we stopped by to see the airfield as well as the studios. We initially were told no but when the guard found out we were on honeymoon he gave us a tour.

We got to see the new reasonably priced cars, the trailers that were really the Top Gear production offices and inside at the studio. The studio was not setup yet as they just finishing filming a movie there. It is worth to note that production offices are really the production offices, even though they made jokes about it. One last interesting thing is the stars that come on the show enter through a storage closet LOL. All the budget for the show is for the cars and trips is for sure.

I could not post it until now as we were there before the show aired and did not want to get anyone in trouble.

While there we also saw the new McLaren Mp12-4C GT being tested. We could not take pictures of it of course but saw it flying down the runway. It was flat black and fly's like a bat out of hell.

I also got a souvenir that I can't post what it is but if you ever are coming to an event, remind me to bring the official paper work I have of TG =). It was a great time there and the guard was a amazing wealth of knowledge and hoot to talk to.

From December 2012 until February 2013, the car was in surgery. The shop I took the car to was kind enough to take images of some of the work as they did it. I need to give a major kudos to the shop for doing the work and doing an AMAZING job.